Friday, 24 September 2010

Professor N.L.A..Karunarathne Vice Chancellor of the University of Jayawardhanapura deserves every decent citizen’s gratitude for keeping the Jayawardhanapura University free from the ordeal of ragging.

The ragging of the students entering the Universities in Sri Lanka on the first year of admission, had reached intolerable, ignoble, savage, and putrid levels putting to shame our predominantly Buddhist country .

The senior students behaved like street rowdies, in the most degenerate manner towards the undergraduates, putting to shame these institutions of knowledge, where future administrators, scientists, philosophers and rulers of the country are made, trained and recognised.

The girls are the centre of the disrespectful rowdy elements where chivalry, decency, and simple respect is thrown into the air and the women students are treated with disgrace, bringing forth their indecent vulgarity with which they expect to be the redeemers of these simple, modest, gentle women some of them from modest homes where even harsh words are not used in the treatment of their children, taking them into the realm of intellectual hierarchy.

The most filthiest of Sinhala vocabulary is used in “speaking” to these undergraduates to welcome them on their arrival, and the women undergraduates are made to repeat those filthy words. The girl undergraduates are made to stand with their legs apart, while the male under graduates are made to go under their spread out legs on their backs. This is done in the name of ragging to elevate the young undergraduates in to the domain of higher knowledge. As Udul Premaratne of the University Students Federation says, “……for students to fall in love and behave as lover….” (Lanka Truth -22.9.2010)

Some of the most vulgar, crude, cruel and indecent ragging committed by these thugs strengthened by their numbers against the women undergraduate are not spoken of by the victims through shame of the ordeal they were made to go through. These undergraduates, victims of these ordeals, may carry these psychological wounds through out their lives.

These disgraceful ordeals of ragging became common only after the advent of the JVP politics into University campuses. Even today it is the JVP that is responsible for the ragging and break down of discipline and respect towards the Vice Chancellors and teaching staff.

For parents and children the Advance level examination is a strenuous period. When the results are announced they are eager to know whether their children have got the required number of As or Bs to qualify to enter the Universities. Thereafter, when the students have been selected …..the students hate to go to the Universities, some suffer from nervous break down, and others refuse to get admitted.

All that is because of the fear of “ragging” they have to face. And the knowledge that the seniors(JVP ) in the Universities are preparing to receive them the “victims” perhaps to satisfy their putrid perversions. The argument the raggers proffer is that ragging prepares the undergraduates, men and women, to face the rigors of life after the University.

But according to Udul Premaratne a representative of the University Students Federation , “…there are opportunities in all universities for students to fall in love and behave as lovers, there is no such opportunity for students at Sri Jayawardenepura University.” This statement it self shows the moral depravity of this man’s mind.

This time with the anti-ragging act the University of Jayawardhanapura became the first rag free University. The undergraduates admitted to the Jayawardhanapura University who were suffering from the sadness of separation from their home and family, strained and nervous on the thought of having to face ragging were greatly relieved when they found that they are free from the evil, vulger ragging ordeal at the Jayawardhanapura University.

This was greatly due to the perspicacity of the Vice Chancellor Professor N.L.A.Karunarathne of the Jayawardhanapura University. The children as well as the parents are greatly relieved and thank the Vice Chancellor profusely for this most praiseworthy step taken by him to stop ragging in his University.

The only people who seem to be angered by the lost opportunity of ragging the young graduates and satisfy their depraved desires are the vulgar elements represented by Udul Premaratne of the University Students federation, the individual who had stated to the media, “Despite there are opportunities in all universities for students to fall in love and behave as lovers, there is no such opportunity for students at Sri Jayawardenepura University.” ( Lanka Truth-22.9.2010)

This shows their secret desires, and confirm the existence of most lowly methods of ragging. The undergraduates do not come to the Universities to find “lovers” as Premaratne had declared but to study and become learned men and women without having to live with psychological scars, inflicted upon them by the depraved “seniors” of the likes of Udul Premaratne.

Udul Premaratne’s statement was given publicity in the Lanka Truth which is the JVP internet News media. This shows that the University ragging is being sponsored by the JVP. Universities are where they get their recruits to the Party.

In the picture showing the stage from which Udul Premaratne was making his statement was also seated a man in a yellow robe. If it is a Buddhist Monk, he should know that discipline is important in Buddhism, that is why the Buddha prepared the Vinaya- Buddhist disciplinary rules.

If that man in the yellow robe with Udul Premaratne is a Buddhist monk he should get all the Buddhist monks in the Universities to speak against ragging and persuade people like Udul Premaratne to keep away from this most vulgar , indecent and depraved practice of ragging the undergraduates, which is not in keeping with the Buddhist tradition we hold sacred, and which is against our Culture.

It is the culture of a nation that differentiates one nation from another. Therefore, in respect to our culture which has its beginning in our religious background, we should preserve the dignity of the place where we pursue higher knowledge, respect also the dignity of “woman hood ” in our society.

Love and sex may be lightly treated in the Western civilization, but that is their culture. But yet, in the Western Universe such depraved and indecent ragging as practiced in the Universities of Sri Lanka are not heard of.

Everybody knows that Udul Premaratne’s campaign against the Vice Chancellor is baseless. He is another Lal Kantha in the University. Lal Kantha is doing lot of political damage with his Trade Unions, while Udul Premaratne seems to be emulating him to destroy the University education in Sri Lanka with his University Students Federation.

If Premaratne continues his campaign against the Vice Chancellor legal action should be taken against him under the respective Act. That would be in the interest of the higher academic education of Sri Lanka.

The 2088 graduates under Tharuna Aruna Training Programme, after going through an arduous military style training course had immense difficulties to make their grievances heard at the correct place. Their manifestations were subjected to police water jets and batten charges. Finally all of them were able to get employments as financial assistants in schools, which later they found to be nothing more than being junior Clerks with no prospects of promotions or other employment avenues.

These young graduates most of them coming from poor families had high hopes of getting an employment in keeping with their hard earned qualification, and pay back to their parents a part of their earnings to redeem their land and property some of them had sold or mortgaged to give their children a university education.

But working as Financial Assistants have not given them the satisfaction they seek in doing a job, as the duties entrusted to them as Financial Assistance are often menial, being at the call of the Head of the School from morning to evening without fixed hours. They are even asked to come to work during week ends. There are cases where they are even asked to come during school holidays to make photocopies of circulars, test papers etc.

They say that they have not been given specific work and are called upon to do any thing that the Head of the school wants, sweeping the floors, making tea, washing the cups, even do shopping. If they have to pay out of their own pockets for stamps and stationary they are sent to purchase such payments were not refunded.

They are never allowed to act for an absent teacher, as they are strictly employed as clerks. They cannot even use the staff room. When they are called upon to work after office hours , week ends or to make photocopies during holidays, they are not paid for the extra hours.

They continued to work without complaining during the period of probation fearing not to be confirmed, and even after they do what ever is asked of them not wanting to displease the Head of the School. The employment is at the mercy of the employer- the Head of the School, if they want to keep the job they have to do what ever they are asked to do, that seems to be the principle.

About 300 of these graduates trained under Tharuna Aruna in Uva, and about 375 in Sabaragamuwa have been absorbed into teaching service. There are 275 of these graduates in the Central Procince who continue to work as Finance Assistants-only in name, as they are nothing more than junior clerks.

In the Central Province these Tahruna Aruna Trained Financial Assistants question why when those in Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces had been given teaching appointments , they have been left out. Uva Province Chief Minister is Mr. Sashindra Rajapakse does that make a difference ?

A few of them as a delegation of the Tharuna Aruna Trainees of the Central Province went to see the Governor of the Central Province Mr.Tikiri Kobbekaduwa hoping to place their case before him, so that he would understand their situation and accept to help them to avoid a discrimination as against those in the Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces who had received better treatment !

But the Hon. Governor Mr. Tikiri Kobbekaduwa disappointed them.

They explained to the Hon. Governor, that they were trained under the Tharuna Aruna Scheme, on the assurance that they would be provided with employment in keeping with the qualifications and the arduous training they under go, but even though they were finally provided with employment as Financial Assistants to work in schools they are nothing more than junior clerks. They have to work without any future prospect, without even the hope of being absorbed into the department as teachers.

They pointed out to the Hon. Governor Mr.Tikiri Kobbekaduwa that those from Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces who underwent the Tharuna Aruna Training course along with them have been given teaching appointments by the initiative of the respective Governors of the Provinces. They therefore requested him to redress the injustice to them by provide them as well with teaching appointments.

The Governor Mr.Kobbekaduwa had asked them not to tell him about the other provinces because as far as he is concerned he will never give the Tharuna Aruna Trainees in the Central Province any teaching appointments. He had told them that they have a job and it is best that they be satisfied, as he has to look after others who have no jobs.

They had pleaded with him to help them to get teaching appointments, as it would give them the satisfaction of contributing more positively to the country, and also avoid a discrimination being committed against them. They had also said that as it is they cannot even sit for the Administrative Service Examinations to enable them to look forward to better their future prospects.

The Hon. Governor, had then told them that they should read the 18th Amendment to the Constitution introduced by the President, according to which there are no Examinations in future to take officers for the Administrative Service as the President Mahinda Rajapakse will select Officers for the Administrative Service as he selects Governors for the Provinces. Therefore, he had asked them to be satisfied with the jobs they have and be content.

If that is how a governor misinform the Youths who go to him seeking his help, there is something really wrong in the Administration of the Central Province under the Hon. Governor Mr. Tikiri Kobbekaduwe. If the 18th Amendment to the Constitution means what he say it is a discredit the President.

It is of course appreciable that the Government provided these 2088 Tharuna Aruna Traineesemployment in the government. But an employment should have the expectation of compensation for hard work and some sort of future prospectus to look forward to, so that it would encourage the employees to render their service for their own benefit and therefore for the greater benefit of the country.

The Government Representatives in the Provinces should be more accessible to young government servants in whatever category and encourage them providing them with access to better conditions and future prospect in their employment.

If the Tharuna Aruna Trainees in Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces have been given teaching appointments , it is nothing but correct that the government provides those Trainees in other Provinces also with teaching appointments. Otherwise it would be a discrimination, which is not in keeping with the promises being made by the President Mr;Mahinda Rajapakse.

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Democracy as we had learnt in school is the government of the people, by the people for the people. What we have in Sri Lanka is the Parliamentary Democracy introduced to us by the British. Though it was at the beginning strictly applied to the formation of a government by a Political Party accepted by a majority of the people casting their votes at a Parliamentary election. It is also extended in the conduct of organisations, institutions and societies as well.

There are differences in the democratic system of governance in different countries of the world. There are liberal democracies, direct democracies implemented through Soviets, socialist democracies, participatory democracies etc. But lot of the critics of the government of Sri Lanka accepts no other but the sacrosanct British Parliamentary Democracy.

Most of our compatriots in Sri Lanka are in the habit of accepting what ever comes from the West as some thing very special- almost sacred, and follow it to the letter, and become more fervent adopters of these burrowed systems than their promoters. It is the same with many thing, a little brush with the culture of the British makes them feel more British than the British. The Sri Lanka Christians are more Christian than the Christians in the West. Hence in democracy too we try to be more democratic than the democrats in the West- even if their democracy is mutilated when it comes to be applied in dealings with the developing countries.

In a democracy, it is the political party that gets the majority of the votes of the people that wins. It is that Party that forms the government. And the government lasts until the end of the term specified in the Constitution. Normally the looser should respect the result of the elections and accept the government formed by the elected representatives of the people, and work as the opposition to the government.

Being the Opposition in Parliament is not to start a campaign of discrediting the government from the beginning, boycotting its presentation of bills, trying to mobilise the people against the government, tearing of the copies of the bills, or burning the effigy of the head of the Government in public. That is not democracy. It is making a travesty of democracy.

The Opposition should not forget that they may form the next government, therefore it should act with responsibility and with respect to the majority that elected the political party and hence the government. The opposition should not act as an enemy of the government, but should support the actions of the government, when they are of national interest.

The opposition may speak against actions of the government which they think are not for the benefit of the people. But such actions of agitations of the Opposition against non-beneficial proposals by the government should be made in side the house of Parliament in an environment of toleration and compromise, and out side in meetings explaining the reasons for opposition with discipline, not to whip up the emotions of the people against the government.

Taking the 18th Amendment as an example, once it has been passed with a majority of the Parliamentarians voting in favour of it, it becomes the law of the land, according to the “sacrosanct” democracy we are following. If there are short comings, the opposition may bring in amendments but always respect and accept the verdict of the majority. If the opposition comes into power next they could propose an amendment to the amendment , or abrogate it and remove it from the Constitution.

That is how the democracy works, if barriers are put to stop the elected government from continuing its work in terms of the Laws that have been passed, the democracy goes “sour”, it becomes anarchy. And the opposition in so doing goes against the very people they are accepted to represent in an accepted democratic system of government.

To know the taste of a cake it has to be eaten, therefore to see whether the 18th Amendment works to the satisfaction of the people it has to be allowed to be put into practice by the Government that presented it to the Parliament and got it passed with a majority.

Even, the best of law would not help those who are imprisoned in “ prejudice” to see the value of it. So they will continue to criticise neither with any benefit to themselves, nor to the people who have used their democratic right of vote to elect the government.

This is how the pretended “lovers” of democracy in Sri Lanka seem to accept the system.

Then there are those who say the President- elected democratically by the people- is a dictator for having presented the 18th Amendment to the Constitution to the Parliament and got it passed with a two third majority. They are democrats against democracy !!

A candidate elected at the Presidential election and won the election with a majority of the votes of the people, cannot be a Dictator. Therefore those who say he is a dictator do not know who is a dictator, or they are making a false allegation disrespectful to the people who elected him-the President, and also against democracy of which they pretend to be the fervent supporters- but unfortunately do not seem to know how it works. For those who do not know democracy it has already been explained above.

It remains to explain: who is a Dictator ?A Dictator is defined as: “…..a ruler …….. who assumes sole and absolute power (sometimes but not always with military control)In modern usage, the term “dictator” is generally used to describe a leader who holds and/or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly. Dictatorships are often characterized by some of the following traits: suspension of elections and of civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents without abiding by rule of law procedures; these include single-party state, and cult of personality.”(Wikipedia)If elections have been stopped. If the Parliament is abolished. If only one political party exists. If the army has been deployed every where taking over the function of the police.. All manifestations against the government have been prohibited. If the media is taken over all news censured. If all political leaders have been arrested and imprisoned. If the country is cut off from the rest of the world. Then there is a Dictatorship.

But has that happened in Sri Lanka with the adoption of the 18th Amendment to the constitution ?

If not there is no Dictatorship. The antagonists of the government of the President Mahinda Rajapakse may write articles “embellishing” the news media, websites, and blogs, explaining their idea of democracy, and how the President of Sri Lanka has become a Dictator by passing the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

But yet, all that does not make the President a Dictator, because in Sri Lanka there is a healthy Democracy.

But only those who are blinded by anger, hatred, and jealousy, and living in ignorance will see a dictatorship in Sri Lanka.(without disrespect to Mugabe)

Under the 18th Amendment the President is not there for life. But he will have the right as any other citizen to contest the Presidential election every five years, or when ever there is a Presidential election if he wants to, and the people may vote for him, or for some one else. He may be elected or some one else may be elected.

The difference this time is that the President has a long term project. If he is not there to continue it after his second term in office, the next elected President may undo every thing that has been done , and the expected development will not take place. But it is all up to the people to elect the president for him to continue his development projects or give it to some one else to change everything.

When Dr.N.M.Perera became the Minister of Finance of a coalition government in 1964 a ten year Plan of development was proposed, but it could not be carried out as the government changed, and they forged new plans. Even recently as in 2001 the UNF government of Ranil Wickramasinghe changed the political face of the country doing much damage to Sri Lanka.

Even though the donor community, predicted that Sri Lanka under the UNP regime was well on its way to rapid economic recovery. The Cooperative System was abandoned and many state corporations were sold to the private sector. And the country under a CFA was getting enmeshed in a seemingly unending terrorism.

What is the guarantee it would be different if by any chance the UNP with Ranil Wickramasinghe is to take over the reins of the Government from Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse ?

But on the other hand if the President Mahinda Rajapakse has the chance of being elected once again the people of Sri Lanka will be assured of a continued development plan.

Those who discredit the President Mahinda Rajapakse for the 18th Amendment are those who have no interest of the country, they are either paid by the expatriate Tamil Community still hoping for another “spate” of terrorism or helped by the West who wants to rid the Country of a progressive President to be replaced by one who will follow the whims and fancies of the West.

There are always people to follow those who want to thwart the progress of developing countries, but few to help the developing countries to rise above their status of underdevelopment.

Sri Lanka after 60 years of Independence is today a country rising fast into development. The country is not following a strong Marxist programme of development , but is following nevertheless a Socialist programme. And that is the path of development to be followed.

Democracy as it is suits developed countries , but the developing countries have to change democracy to suit their purposes, fit into their culture, their accepted way of thinking.

If China had followed the dictates of all those foreign “do-gooders” the Hunman Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Ban ki Moon of the UN, Milibands, Kouchners, Hillary Clingtons, Robert Blakes etc. and allowed them to interfere into its affairs, China would still be only a “developing” country depending on the West- that once devastated it with the “opium wars”

Mr;Mahinda Rajapakse should be evaluated from what he has done so far.

There are still those who cannot understand progress from regress, cannot evaluate a man from his acts, cannot see in Mahinda Rajapakse a man who wants to develop the country, without seeking benefits for himself surrounding himself with people whom he could trust. They cannot see that in Mahinda Rajapakse there is no semblance of a Dictator .In any case, can any one point out to any political leader other than Mr.Mahinda Rakjapakse who can lead Sri Lanka for progress and development as he had been doing since 2005 ?

The Parliamentary Council under the 18th Amendment is much more workable than the 17th Amendment. If there would be difficulties it could certainly be corrected as and when difficulties arise. That is how progress is made. 18th Amendment is a workable alternative to the 17th Amendment. It is also a necessary step towards progress and development and some thing to be emulated by all developing countries, to get away from the West determined to keep the poor countries poor and dependent on the West.

Those who speak about Tamils, ethnic problem, devolution of political power, dictatorship under the Amendments to the Constitution, dynasties, and family and Co, do not love Sri Lanka as their motherland, they are all seeking to feather their own nests.

For instance what can Mangala Samaraweera, Tilvin Silva, Vijitha Herath, Anura Kumara Dissanayake or Sarath Fonseka contribute to politics in Sri Lanka or to its people other than division, separation, political and social regression ? They are the prophets of doom. They have nothing to give to the people other than their hatred, jealousy , and hostility.

Saturday, 18 September 2010

Then there was no UN Panel to find ways to end terrorism in Sri Lanka, no articles in the Economist asking the world to come to rescue Sri Lanka from terrorism, there were no debate in the British parliaments to find ways to help the lone fight of Sri Lanka against terrorism.

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In Sri Lanka a resplendent Island home to three main communities the Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims, the people lived a peaceful life each community making their communal problems heard in their legislature and solutions found without aggression. Where when the problems were not solved they were made to be heard through the respective media, or voiced through their political representatives.

In a developing world our Island depending on repayable loans “ kindly” offered, without transfer of precious technology by the former Colonialists and the rich West we managed to exist content with our lot as a developing country. However, we progressed as unindustrialised we were, having a sufficient agricultural out put, depending on rubber , coconut and tea to earn foreign exchange. We were helped by the US Aid under PL40 and became addicts to eating bread made from American Wheat flour.

But our population continued to grow and with the introduction of free education more of our children became literate and few entered university as places were limited. Gradually the problems began to accumulate and number of unemployed youth increased . It was in that climate that some of the unemployed Tamil youth in the North were enticed by the Indian RAW to be trained in terrorism.

After an intensive training in the jungles of TamilNadu, these youth were released in the North, where they were initiated by their “gurus” to win over the Tamils by creating a situation to enrage the Sinhala Community to the extent the Sinhala in the South take revenge from the innocent Tamils. All they had to do was kill 13 Sinhala Policemen to commence the riots of 1983, with which the Tamil expatriates still blame the Sinhala. But in all such riots it is the goons who get involved.

All that time, the West did not interfere too much into our affairs as we were subservient and always sought their aid, when we had our problems. The West had no problems with us who were satisfied with the “ crumbs” we received from their rich tables.

But when the terrorism raised its ugly head and things were not so peaceful as it had been, the West did not come forward to help us solve our problems and stop terrorism taking a hold in the country. They did not give us arms and ammunitions to fight off the terrorism. The terrorists were helped by a large expatriate Community, who were brain washed against the Sinhala. These Tamil expatriates in turn brain washed their children, teaching them that the Sinhala are their enemies who had deprived them of their homeland.

These Tamil expatriates were forced to contribute to the terrorists, who had promised them to win back their homeland from the Sinhala and give it to them. With those earnings the terrorists became very rich and acquired modern arms and ammunitions, ships and planes. The Government had only old guns and were helpless against the well armed terrorists.

The West did not move an inch to help us. The UN did not set up panels to ask the west to come to help Sri Lanka- a member state- facing a well armed force of terrorists, fighting to divide the country .

Sri Lanka was all alone to deal with terrorism. India its neighbour not only refused to give any aid or sell arms and ammunitions, but also prohibited us from buying offensive arms from China or Russia. India also issued warnings to Sri Lanka or sent their government Representatives to intervene on behalf of the terrorists to please the TamilNadu.

The tsunami that hit our east coast brought in all sorts of NGOs, some to aid the tsunami affected people and others to help the terrorists to become a formidable force, by transferring heavy earth moving machinery, constructing air strips for an air force of the terrorists.

The west who promised us “donations” to help reconstruct tsunami hit areas, were forcing the government to share their “donations” with the terrorists. The terrorists had been given control of the areas they occupied by a CFA prepared by Norway and signed by the then Prime Minister - Ranil Wickramasinghe who was at the beck and call of the West. The West used the CFA to recognise the terrorists as a party to share in the funds allocated for reconstruction of areas affected by the tsunami.

In the mean time terrorists demanding a separate Eelam State become a threat to the Unitary State of Sri Lanka. The Norway which had been selected to mediate between the government and the terrorists, became sympathisers of the terrorists and were secretly manoeuvring to help the terrorists to set up their Eelam State.

The Norway acting through Eric Solheim a supporter of the terrorists in Sri Lanka arranged peace negotiations between the Government and the terrorists. Norway wanted the terrorists to meet the government on equal terms. Therefore, Norway raised the terrorists taking part in the negotiations to “military officers” giving them military ranks such as Colonels, and Majors.

The Terrorists became a considerable Force able to combat the Government Armed Forces, while many governments changed, without any one of them able to successfully even weaken the terrorists. It was in 2005 that the West was surprised by the election of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse as the President of Sri Lanka, a man of the soil a still unknown “entity” to the West..

The West announced his victory as the “hawkish” President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse ……… This “hawkish” President had one great determination. It was to end terrorism through peace or war. Having failed his attempt at peace negotiations, he was forced by the terrorists to employ the alternative to peace negotiations , which was - military operations. In less than five years after his swearing in as the President, he was successful in elimination of terrorism. The Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was not pleased as he thought it was he who was responsible for the elimination of the terrorist.

Though one expected unanimous applause for the great fete of eliminating terrorism, it was not to be. The West when the Sri Lanka terrorists were facing defeat awakened shedding their hypocrisy of being just and fair, and avowed fighters of terrorism where ever it exists and declared “ no negotiations with terrorists ”.

The Governments of the West sent their Foreign Ministers in groups, and the American Secretary of State made declarations from the State Department demanding a cease fire and access to “war zone”. The West strangely, while having their forces in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting Al Queida terrorists were going all out to save the Sri Lanka terrorist leadership.

That is how the West worked against Sri Lanka and continue to do so even now.

Ranil Wickramasinghe the Opposition leader is the man of the West-their stooge. He is even today being formed by the West to breakdown democratic governance in Sri Lanka. The tactic Wickramasinghe is adopting against the Government to-day, is surely prompted by his patrons in the West.

Ranil Wickramasinghe nominating persons to the Parliamentary Council who are unlikely to accept nomination is a delaying tactic which would delay the work of the Parliament in putting into effect the 18th Amendment. It is called “ filibuster”- practiced in the Senate of USA.

On this Barrack Obama in his book , “The Audacity of Hope” writes as follows:

“……….Senator Richard.B.Russell of Georgia ……used the filibuster to choke off any and every piece of civil rights legislation before the Senate, whether voting rights bills, or fair employment bills, or anti-lynching bills. With words, with rules, with procedures and precedents-with law-Southern senators had succeeded in perpetuating bl ack subjugation in ways that mere violence never could. The filibuster hadn’t just stopped bills. For many blacks in the South, the filibuster had snuffed out hope.”

Is this what Ranil Wickramasinghe is up to……to stop good governance and progress which is the hope of many Sri Lankans ?

Of course only way to stop” filibuster” was a “cloture” in the American Senate. But the 18th Amendment to the Sri Lanka Constitution has foreseen that possibility and has allowed the President to nominate a Councillor in case the leader of the Opposition fails to do so.

The people of Sri Lanka has no problem with the President. The people knows better than Ranil Wickramasingh and other anti-President elements that the President Mahinda Rajapakse is not a Dictator.

Who is a Dictator ?:

“A dictator is a ruler …….. who assumes sole and absolute power (sometimes but not always with military control)

In modern usage, the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds and/or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly. Dictatorships are often characterized by some of the following traits: suspension of elections and of civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents without abiding by rule of law procedures; these include single-party state, and cult of personality.”(Wikipedia)

We can understand the West’s interest in labelling our President Mahinda Rajapakse, a dictator, a power hungry politician, or one who kills democracy. Because the West wants to mobilise the media and the influential political stooges to rise up against the President as they did in Chile against the President Salvador Allende or in Iran against the Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq .

Hence Ranil Wickramasinghe is only a tool in the hands of the West to destabilise Sri Lanka.The 18th Amendment takes away the two term limit of the office of a President. It allows a workable method of appointing members to Commissions. The leader of the Opposition will have his own man besides him in the PC to oppose any irregular appointments.

The Election Commissioner will also be independent, and the IGP will be a flexible appointment- if he is not carrying out his function effectively to be removed and replaced without waiting for approval by a Commission.

Under the 18th Amendment there will still be democracy, and the Parliament will continue to function . The people will have the right to use their vote to appoint a new President after the term of office of the Present President.

The 18th Amendment has not provided any right for the Present President Mahinda Rajapakse to continue as the President until the end of his life. It depends how the office of the Leader of the Opposition and the opposition Political Parties function. If people have no trust in the Opposition and its leader, and still places its trust and confidence in the Present President Mahinda Rajapakse , the people will definitely vote the Present President for another term of office. Therefore all depends on the opposition to make the 18th Amendment work democratically.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse is not a Dictator but a determined Sri Lankan to direct the country towards progress and development , unhindered by interested parties utilised by unfriendly West to stop the development projects that he had initiated.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse is working for the wellbeing of the people and not against the people. It is the over zealous sycophants who want to make a travesty of democracy by wasting the time of the government which wants to go ahead with the development projects. It is they who disfunction democracy .

Who are really the enemies of our country:

i) it is Ban Ki Moon of the UN who is trying to stab, one of its own member states, on the back by trying to investigate the military operations against terrorists to accuse the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka for war crimes. ii) USA States Department , by interfering in to the affaires of Sri Lanka which as a sovereign state has the right to adopt Amendments to its Constitution or abrogate it and adopt a new Constitution. It is the business of Sri Lanka and not of USA. Sri Lanka has its own ideas about democracy without having to adopt the Western system of Democracy to the letter.

Lets see what Barrack Obama in his book already referred to say about American Democracy: “……what troubled me was the process- or lack of process- by which the White House and its congressional allies disposed of opposing views; the sense that the rules of governing no longer applied, and there were no fixed meanings or standards to which we could appeal……”. And again “…. The notion that the Democratic barons who then controlled the house of Representatives consistently abused the legislative process for their own gain…”.(page 78).

iii) the Western media like the Economist, which wrote, ““The Sri Lanka described in the revised charter is not a pretty place. It is one where the forms of parliamentary democracy are preserved but the substance has become subordinated to almost untrammeled presidential power.” andiv) the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, Karu Jayasuriya and the rest, JVP, and TNA.

Then we have our own analysts saying , “……Democracy, thus, emerges as the soul of the constitution and anything that compromises democracy compromises the nation. The 18th amendment does not merely compromises this but in fact kills that democracy. It is an attempt to usurp all powers and consolidate that into the person of one man. This is why it kills democracy and the nation in the process.”. This goes for wise intellectual pronouncement.

And another, “Mr. Rajapaksa had a free hand to reform a country bruised by 30 years of violence into a social democratic state. As he instead focuses on consolidating his power, this hope fades away, leaving people in the years to come with a difficult choice: total compliance or desperate revolt.” (Nira Wickramasinghe).

But the bear fact, without delving inside to see the intricacies, contradictions, and complexities is that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution does not “kill” the democracy, but strengthens it and gives the President to go ahead with development projects without stumbling over delay tactics -“filibuster” -of Ranil Wickramasinghe , or overcome impediments TNA, JVP, and the local and foreign critics try to create trying to mobilise the people against the government on falsehood and predictions of doom.

Thursday, 16 September 2010

Ranil Wickramasinghe the lame-duck leader of the UNP continues his vengeance against the President Mahinda Rajaopakse, while his own party now in shambles is preparing to kick him out if he does not step down on his own.

Gunaratna Wanninayake, the NLA secretary, issuing an ultimatum to Wickremesinghe, had said, “…..We have allowed a few more days for an honorable departure……….If it doesn’t happen, we will be required to do so by force based on what the party supporters want. He has become politically dead. He killed this party. We are asking him not to put us into a political abyss.”But Ranil Wickramasing is not only thick skinned, but also shameless. He has not the intelligence to understand that he has already lost the respect of his party members, and it is time that he steps down.But the problem seems to be that Ranil Wickramasinghe’s loyalty is divided. While there is a popular demand from the UNP members for him to step down, there is a call from another quarter that perhaps wants him to continue at all cost. Ranil Wickramasinghe is a member of the prestigious Mont Pelerin Society, as such he is a trusted stooge of the West.At the moment West is all out to take revenge from Sri Lanka, for the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s role in elimination of terrorism from Sri Lanka, which the west wanted to continue to enable them to set up a Kososva style Tamil Eelam State. The British Parliament which to my knowledge did not have special sessions during the 30 years of terrorism in Sri Lanka to debate on what type of aid the UK Government could provide to the Government of Sri Lanka to successfully fight terrorism, had debates after terrorism was eliminated by the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka to inquire into the violation of human rights during the military operations against the terrorists. And more recently to even have a debate on the amendments to the Sri Lanka Constitution. The British Government stooping to such despicable methods against Sri Lanka shows that it is only paying lip service to Democracy, and behind the veil of democracy it is out to stop developing countries rising above their dependence on the West.The UK Parliament having a debate on the Constitution of Sri Lanka and being critical of the Amendments adopted to it with a two third majority in the Parliament of Sri Lanka is overstepping the bounds of political decency.Hence there is no doubt that Ranil Wickramasinghe is being used as the tool of the Western Governments to obstruct the development of Sri Lanka. The loss of his position as the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lanka Parliament would deprive the West of having some one who could fight against the President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government from within the Parliament. Even India whose leaders are constantly consulted by Ranil Wickramasinghe is close enough to India for him to be used by India against the President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government.Therefore, there is no doubt that there are many factors at play in Ranil Wickramasinghe’s refusal to listen to his Party Members and his continuing to hold on to his position as the Leader of the UNP.The 18 th Amendment to the Sri Lanka Constitution has been adopted by a two third majority. Acting against the Constitution now is illegal and against all norms of Democratic governance. Ranil Wickramasinghe and others who cry high and low that the adoption of the 18th Amendment is undemocratic, are now acting against democracy trying to make a mockery of it if they do not respect the 18th Amendment which was adopted with a two third majority in the Parliament.Ranil Wickramasinghe, TNA, JVP and all the rest who are against the 18th Amendment are not rebelling against the President and the Government but against the people of this country, who trust the President and his Government and therefore not against the 18th Amendment adopted in all legality and within all norms of Democracy in the Parliament. Ranil Wickramasinghe should be reminded that when he signed the CFA behind the back of the Parliament and the elected President of Sri Lanka, he became a traitor to our country and he is responsible more than any one else for the large number of deaths resulting from the Military operations against terrorism until it was eliminated on the 19th of May,2009People of Sri Lanka does not accept the President as a Dictator of any sorts, but I am sure the people themselves as much as the large number of the UNP Party members are tired of the tactics of Ranil Wickramasinghe , the TNA, and JVP to obstruct the President and the Government to carry on the development projects that are currently in progress.

Sunday, 12 September 2010

Sonali Samarasinghe appears from her hiding in the West to request her “world” to stop Sri Lanka’s decline. Stopping Sri Lanka’s decline is to help it to improve, help it to grow. That her “world” will not do. Because her “world” only wants to see Sri Lanka’s decline.

The “world” to which you appeal Sonali Samarasinghe, is the Western world of which we have had enough. Their democracy, their human rights are only “ excuses “ used against the developing countries to keep them subservient and kept bound to the West- their former colonialists. They are only slogan carriers for democracy, with neither the democracy nor the generosity to help the third world countries to progress into development.

We have experienced their democratic ways, they withdrew GSP+ which helped our country to employ poor young women from the villages, and earn foreign currency, they set up panels to accuse our Government Forces which eliminated terrorism, for war crimes. We have really lost respect to these countries Sonali Samarasinghe, your friends are unfortunately not our friends.

There is nothing new Sonali Samarasinghe in your present article against Sri Lanka other than what you had been saying in your previous articles and the speech. This is just the same old wine now turning in to vinegar served in a new bottle.

Not only Sonali but all those who had been taking their turn to write on the 18th Amendment seem to be inviting the same old ghosts to haunt Sri Lanka to create a semblance of fear. Any thing is good enough for the anti Sri Lanka vampires to attack the President and the Government of Sri Lanka, when in fact the 18th Amendment neither creates fear nor does it create a Dictator or a King out of the Present President or the future Presidents. It is just an Amendment to the Constitution to make it more flexible with regard to the terms of office of Presidency.

But Sonali Samarasinghe has not seen, from where she is hiding what is going on in Sri Lanka today with Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa as its President. There is an enormous upsurge of progress and development. This surge of progress to continue unabated, there should be an assurance of the continuity of the leadership that ventured to begin the process.

Hence the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which would help the present leadership or another progressive leadership elected by the people in the future , to carry forward the process of development, without an attempt by a wrong leadership to take it backwards to enable a “world” to which Sonali Samarasinghe appeals to cause its decline.

The Constitution does not give the President unlimited power as there are Commissions which can advise and control appointments. The President is answerable to the Parliament cannot manipulate electoral process to his advantage. But further amendments, perhaps to set up an Upper House will be of further benefit to the country.

The 18th Amendment has not taken away the power of the people to elect who ever they want to lead the country, without placing the right of governance on one person for two consecutive terms, unless they approve the development processes he had started and want him to continue the process for a further period of time.

Our country being for the first time in the infancy of an independent growth, away from the “world” which had not been kindly to its development, requires a dedicated leadership as the one we have now. That is the view of the majority of the people of the country from which Ms.Sonali Samarasinghe has distanced.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse had been in power since 2005. He has won the ordinary people’s trust and confidence and they have no fear that he would abuse the trust they have placed in him.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, UN and its Human Rights Commission, and the EU had been the stumbling blocks put on the path of Sri Lanka’s progress towards development away from underdevelopment. The Parliamentary Council will not be a “toothless body” as you say, but it will have sufficient control with some of its members drawn from the Opposition, it is up to them to speak up in defence of “democracy”.

The President instead of being a dictator who has all powers in his hand , will overseer the smooth function of different administrative bodies, for the wellbeing of the people without being a deterrent for the progress of the country as a whole.

It is only being away from Sri Lanka and reading only biased media reports, unable to look at the present development that is taking place in Sri Lanka under the leadership of the President Mahinda Rajapakse in the correct perspective, that you have come to the wrong and sad conclusion that Sri Lanka is a Country falling rapidly into decline.

There was never a Dictatorship in Sri Lanka and there would not be one so long as Mahinda Rajapakse is in leadership. However, the 18th Amendment has not taken away the power of the people to enable a President turning to be dictatorial to be removed after his first term of office. The 18th Amendments gives greater power to the people, that the previous Constitution of JR Jayawardhane did not foresee, or purposely avoided such an empowerment to the people.

The opposition was given a chance by the President before the 18th Amendment was placed before the Parliament to discuss the issue of an Executive President or an Executive Prime Minister , but the “weak” Opposition- as you say, was unable to seize the opportunity to engage in a dialogue to come to a different political system by curbing the executive powers of the President.

This bill passed in Parliament on the 7th September,2010, was therefore not executed in haste, but having a two third majority in the Parliament to any Political party is rare, and maintaining it being uncertain with fickle minds of “persons”- and with an expatriate Tamil Community waiting generously with an open bag of dollars, backed by the anti Sri Lanka countries of the west, duped by persons like you giving a wrong image of our country, it had been thought wise to pass the 18th Amendment now without prolonging discussions on it with a “weak and non-cooperating opposition” for an uncertain period of time.

The President’s immunity, under the former Constitution lasted for two consecutive terms of Presidency. But with the adoption of the 18th Amendment he loses that privilege, as the Presidency is renewable after every single term of office.

In 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse came on a platform- not of war, as Sonali Samarasinghe says –but on a “platform” to remove terrorism peacefully with a dialogue with the terrorist leader. But Prabhakaran not only refused to meet him personally, but also refused to participate in negotiations for a peace settlement.

Prabhakaran showed his opposition for negotiation of peace by blasting a claymore bomb massacring a busload of passengers, and closing the sluice gates of a tank depriving the farmers of water. The President then had no alternative but to resort to military operations. That is the situation that Sonali carefully avoids speaking about, calling the government’s military operations against terrorism a “racist war”.

On the 18th May,2009, the President with his Armed Forces eliminated terrorism, despite the efforts by the Western countries to give a life line to the terrorists for some unknown reason. Subsequently, these Western countries angered by their failure to save the terrorist leadership continue to accuse Sri Lanka for violation of Human Rights.

There are many local media persons like Sonali Samarasinghe who helped the anti Sri Lanka moves by the foreign Media to bring discredit to Sri Lanka putting forward all sorts of unsubstantiated allegations.

It is wrong to say that Sri Lanka during the past five years achieved only a modest economic growth. On the other hand Sri Lanka despite the military operations against the terrorists during the last four years made a remarkable economic growth, as well as an unprecedented infrastructure development, which would surprise Sonali Samarasinghe if she were to visit Sri Lanka with an open mind and see them for herself.

Sonali Samarasinghe should not continue to discredit Sri Lanka, by talking about the doctored Video evidence planted by the UK Channel 4, which had been apparently amply compensated for their deplorable work by the pro terrorist Tamil Expatriates in UK, and strengthened by an equally deplorable journalist of your late husband’s Sunday Leader. It is not necessary to go back on it as it had been repeated ad nauseam.

With regard to the appointment of the brothers of the President that you seem to revert back to, you may perhaps know that one brother appointed as the Defence Secretary was a Colonel in the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and fought against the terrorists for nearly 20 years. Therefore, that was an appropriate appointment as he already knew of the tactics used by the terrorists, and knew how to coordinate the three forces -Army, Navy and Air Force and provide them with appropriate arms and ammunition.

It was an appropriate appointment despite the fact the appointee was a brother of the President. We now know that he played a key role in the military operations that brought terrorisms to an end in Sri Lanka. He was a person on whom the President could place his complete trust and confidence, which was an important factor at the time.

With regard to other two brothers and his son they contested different Parliamentary seats in the country and were democratically elected by the people of the country. Therefore harping on that is a mere effort to baselessly discredit the President.

All his appointees to important positions in the government sector were qualified for the posts and they have carried out the work entrusted to them in the interest of the country, of which you are out of touch, and repeat stories concocted by anti Sri Lanka persons whose company you seem to keep.

Arrest of the former Army Commander is on evidence of his misconduct not in keeping with his office as the Commander of the Army. His arrest was not a personal vendetta of the President, who may even today pardon him if he were to ask for it.

As you are biased against Sri Lanka you will fail to see positive aspects of the Presidency of Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse. On the same account you will be blind to the efforts of the West, securing the support of the UN, UNHRC, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International ,EU and the International Crisis Group, to take revenge from the President and the Government for its refusal to let their Agents, David Milliband, Bernard Kushner , or Blake to enter the war zone during the final phase of the war against terrorists to rescue its leadership.

We are an Independent Nation with a literate population. Our Academics, the Judiciary, and the intelligentsia are “noble” as much as they are in the West or perhaps more so. They could be trusted to carry out independent objective investigations into what ever Commissions they are appointed ,

Therefore Sonali Samarasinghe when you say , “ Many have no faith in such homegrown inquiries that have been more about the reinforcement of the government viewpoint, denial, botching evidence and creating confusion rather than genuine investigation.”, you are joining in chorus with all anti-Sri Lanka elements in the west. It is an unpardonable insult to our institutions and our learned intellectual community.

The “Many” you refer to may be the people of your ilk, and those biased Westerners, whose company you keep . But the people of the country have confidence in the investigators appointed to various Commissions, as well as those appointed to the Reconciliation and Lessons Learnt Commission, except of course the local political opponent of the President and his government .

Some of our media, and media personnel are the bane of our country that discredit the Country and the President for the most part inventing incidents and reporting them to the western media as manoeuvres by the President and the Government .You and those who prompted the writing of your article have let all your minds run wild in trying to imagine how to condemn the adoption of the 18th Amendment as a means to make the incumbent President more powerful.

If you had looked at it without bias against the President and the Government you may have seen more clearly the adoption of the 18th Amendment does not attempt to make the incumbent President more powerful than he is.

With people like you who do not want to see the merits of the 18th Amendment, we can discuss until cows come home and you will still remain with the same bias as that with which you started the discussion.

Finally you come to the new Amendment, by which the President must attend Parliament every three months making him answerable to the Parliament, where you say that, “ a provision his supporters argue will increase accountability. In fact, such a move will only serve to increase presidential power, manipulation and interference in the parliamentary process and remove any semblance of the independence of parliament and the separation of powers.”

This shows that you are unable to look at any thing objectively when it comes to Sri Lanka , it is under these circumstances that one wonders how you came to be a “award winning” journalist with such a muddled mental attitude.

The final cutting wave of your sword comes , with the statement, “ Certainly for a country that has seen some of the bloodiest years of its 27-year civil war under the present regime, the culture of impunity, the fear propaganda, the persecution intimidation, murder and muzzling of the press is nothing new.”

But leaving aside insinuations, Sonali Samarasinghe should know that this country saw, with the coming of President Rajapakse, the end of nearly a thirty years of suffering bringing untold misery to the Tamil Civilians in the North and East and assassinations, murders, massacres, fear and uncertainty to the rest of the country. It also saw the dawn of peace in Sri Lanka with the end of terrorism.

There had been no muzzling of the press at any time and even now the media both local and international continue to berate, insult, discredit and level accusations to the President and the government of Sri Lanka, without a word of angry reaction by the President or the Government.

Please stop your vendetta against the President and the Government and come to Sri Lanka to see for yourself what has become of Sri Lanka since you have left , what progress it has made, before you write another meaningless article remembering Sri Lanka for what it had been under a ruthless terrorism “ in command”.

Friday, 10 September 2010

While we congratulate the President Mahinda Rajapakse for the victory in the Parliament to pass the 18th Amendment to the Constitution with more than a two third majority, we wish him further success, after fortifying the executive Presidency , to lead the country on the path of development with the ability to overcome all obstacles he is sure to encounter.

Nevertheless, as appropriate we question the President on a matter distasteful to all decent people of this country who respect the President and have placed their trust and confidence in him. It would be appreciated if the President could explain why he did not take seriously the accusation levelled against Mr.Mervyn Silva, a member of his government for humiliating a government officer by tying him to a tree. The justification given by Mervyn Silva as enacting a drama being too clumsy an excuse.

The disciplinary action that the SLFP, had taken against the said Mr.Silva was a farce. Mr.Silva’s defence that it was only an enactment of a drama should not have been accepted.

In that sense the SLFP disciplinary inquiry against Mr.Mrvyn Silva had also been a drama to satisfy the public, as much as that enacted by Mervyn Silva tying a Government Officer to a tree. If it had been a drama that fact should have been informed before tying the Officer to the tree. Immediately following regrettable incident there was a protest march against it, and that was not a part of the main drama.

The SLFP disciplinary Committee as well as Mr.Mervy Silva take the people of this country for fools to believe their manoeuvres to whitewash Mr.Silva for the condemnable act hecommitted.

The silence of the President on the matter and reappointing Mr.Mervyn Silva back to the post of Deputy Minister of transport without demanding him to make a public apology to the government officer humiliated, in the presence of television cameras, leaves a bad taste, and leaves many questions unanswered.

An honourable discharge by a disciplinary Committee of the SLFP or even by a court of law does not absolve a man from the wrong committed against another human being humiliating and degrading him in the presence of the public. Mr.Mermyn Silva’s version of the matter is not acceptable to the people of the country.

That was definitely a violation of human rights of a government officer. Law and discipline apart Mr.Silva should have been at least publicly reprimanded by the President or by the SLFP leadership for his very high handed treatment of a Government Officer. Incidentally that is not the first time that Mr. Silva was involved in questionable behaviour unbecoming of a Deputy Minister.

Mr.Mervyn Silva being a member of the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government, the President cannot absolve himself of the responsibility for the insolent action of his Deputy Minister.

Mr. Silva certainly has a psychological problem, and every responsible persons in the government and the SLFP acted in this matter not to give justice to a wrong done to a person , but to treat the matter in a way which would clear Mr.Silva of blame, in this most deplorable act to enable the President to appoint him back to the post from which he was unceremoniously removed to dupe the people.

Mr.Silva is definitely not a person loved or loveable , but a person feared and unloved. He is a person who infuses fear, and one does not know to what extent he would go against some one who does a wrong or even to person who tries to point out that he is wrong. Its is strange that such a person could do any criminal act and getaway with it.

Mr.Silva may perhaps be a good person given to erratic behaviour, but that does not mean he should not at least be told publicly by his peers, that he should act differently at least when dealing with Government Officers.

The Government officers are bound by Official regulations under which they are recruited. And any disciplinary action against a government officer should be conducted according to the laid down disciplinary rules.

This most ugly deplorable affair brings discredit to the President. Does it mean that any one around the President can do any criminal or immoral act with impunity ?

That would be a weakness on the part of the President if he allows Mervyn Silva to go scot free for what he had done. We very well saw in the television report with the man tied to a tree Mervyn Silva was not enacting a drama.

It is not difficult for Mr.Mervyn Silva, being what he is to get an affidavits from witnesses to justify his reprehensible act by sending three or four of his thugs. Mervyn Silva’s behaviour is not that of a decent man, let alone a Deputy Minister. He was behaving like a street rowdy.

A government Officer cannot be used to perform dramas to please the whim and fancy of a Deputy Minister.

In this Mervyn Silva episode the President is as much to be blamed as the shameless Deputy Minister. If Mr.Mervyn Silva is not made to publicly apologise for his criminal act, at least the President himself should do it on behalf of the Deputy Minister.

That will at least teach Mervyn Silva a lesson to behave differently in the future.

The open letter addressed to you by Mr.Rajasingham Jayadevan and appearing in the Sri Lanka Guardian Website on 5 September,2010, does not explain the correct situation with regard to Sri Lanka. Therefore , the following back ground of the writer and the Website in which it was published will help you to evaluate the correctness of the information he had intended to give you.

In 1983 the LTTE terrorist instigated riot, of which the Indian RAW is not completely unaware, gave an opportunity for many Sri Lanka Tamils to migrate to UK and Canada as refugees running away from danger to their lives from the monstrous Sinhala majority Community.

Mr.Rajasingham Jayadevan appears to be one of them who sought the “ green pastures” of UK to migrate to make it his country of residence . He is now accusing the government of Sri Lanka from his cosy comfort in UK.

His open letter was published in the Sri Lanka Guardian website , which is said to be run by one Neelantha Illangamuwa (if not a Tamil Expatriate living in USA), who is openly against the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala Community despite the fact he has a Sinhala name.

It is said that he deliberately attacks the President and his government expecting some sort of reprisal, so that he could go to a foreign country as a political refugee under the pretext that he is being pursued by a dictatorial anti democratic government to thwart his freedom as a journalist. The Editor( who ever it was) of this website had editorially accepted the terrorist Leader Prabhakaran as the leader of the Tamil people.

This web site encourages those who write against the government and the Sinhala Community. After the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed into law in the Parliament, Lanka Guardian portrays the President of Sri Lanka as Hitler, which shows a complete degradation, lack of morality and respect to ethical standards of journalism of the web site.

Therefore Mr.Rajasingham Jayadevan’s letter coming from that background without firsthand information of what he writes is far from being an accurate situation in Sri Lanka.

I am therefore pleased to write to you this open letter following that of Mr.Rajasingham Jayadevan, to give you my point of view and show to what an extent he is biased against the government of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people with whom he had never lived and perhaps have no contact with expatriate Sinhala community in UK as well.

I also thank you for visiting the North and East of Sri Lanka vandalised, and destroyed by the terrorists for thirty years and left in utter desolation, which was finally liberated by the valiant soldiers of the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka.

These two provinces are today seeing an unprecedented development process thanks to the President of Sri Lanka Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse. I however regret that you did not seem to have thought it necessary to visit the south of Sri Lanka which also suffered in the hands of the Tamil terrorists.

The government of Sri Lanka as you may have observed, had been capable of achieving what many local and international critics of Sri Lanka Government and President Mahinda Rajapakse, thought unachievable. First it eliminated the terrorism with considerable difficulty at a heavy loss of men and material, planning at the same time development project , and secondly took all measures to defend and take care of the people in these two provinces as well as those in the south.

Madam, Sri Lanka is the only country in the world which was able to defeat terrorism that for 30 years caused immense suffering to the people of the country, and abject misery to our Tamil people in the North and East.

That great victory against the terrorists bringing safety and peace to the Tamil civilians of these areas was the result of the dedication of the Soldiers of the Sinhala Community who sacrificed their lives and limbs in that effort.

The Armed Forces carried out the most arduous task of carrying out successfully a rescue operation of bringing to safety from the clutches of the terrorists keeping nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians as a humanshield in the midst of the constant attack by the terrorists using their heavy artillery. Many of our Soldiers died in that operation, the likes of which, to my knowledge, had never been undertaken by any other country in the world.

Besides the rescue operation of these nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians, the armed Forces had to find for them accommodation, food, provide them with medical facilities, water , and above all give them protection from the terrorists who may have come along with them as refugees. It was an unimaginable, onerous task only the intelligent, unbiased persons could visualize and understand.

These facts have not been mentioned in the letter sent to you by Mr. Rajasingham Jayadevan, because mentioning them would only show the sacrifice made by the Sinhala people to liberate their Tamil compatriots from their suffering under the jack boots of terrorism, would be a paradox of the image of the Sinhala people Mr.Jayadevan is trying to present to you as monsters living on the blood of the Tamil people.

If according to the 13th Amendment the North and the East remained merged, the terrorists would have set up Tamil Ealam which would not have been in the greater interest of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka where 55 percent of them live happily in the south with the Sinhala people.

Mr. Jayadevan also mentions the 13 Amendment which was more a secret pact as you may well be aware which would have facilitated eventual annexation of that part of Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu as an extended territory . That is why the people of our country have apprehensions about frequent visits of Indian Ministers and officials to north and east of Sri Lanka as it is already an Indian territory without paying attention to the people of Sri Lanka as a whole. Incidentally such visits were not made during the military operations against the terrorists, except to advice our government to come to a political settlement with the terrorists !

The Foreign Minister S.M.Krishna’s statement in the Lok Sabha , referred to by Mr.Jayadevan, “the rightful assertion of the Foreign Minister Hon S M Krishna in the Lok Sabha recently that any political resolution in Sri Lanka must be more than what has been offered under the 13th amendment to the constitution,” seems to have other important connotations than meets the eye.

Therefore, Madam, it is important that the Indian Ministers are informed that when they make statements in the Lok Sabha or else where to please the Tamil Nadu, they should diplomatically avoid seeming interference to the internal affairs of our country.

Mr. Jayadevan in his letter says that , “…..I, like many other Tamils was pushed out of my motherland in a systematic manner by the state. It is the deep rooted historical animosities and inferiority complexes of the communities….” There is absolutely no truth that the Government of Sri Lanka pushed out any of its citizens from Sri Lanka, they went on their own, some of them to fulfil their desire to go abroad for economic reasons, making use of the situation that had been created by the terrorists at that time, as an excuse.

In 1970’s Sri Lanka had a very few Universities and accommodation was limited. Therefore, the government in order to reduce the number of admissions, introduced a standardisation system, which affected students from all Communities. There was the problem of employment in Sri Lanka at the time and that was a problem common to all youths in Sri Lanka.

The terrorism had still not started, when some unemployed young Tamil youth had been taken over by certain interested persons and given a training in guerilla warfare and terrorism some where in Sout India. After that training they were let loose in the North of Sri Lanka.

These youths now trained in terrorism killed 13 Government policemen of the Sinhala Community, expecting a backlash from the Sinhala people of the South. That resulted in the installation of the Tamil youth trained in terrorism, with the desired sympathy of the Tamils who suffered from the Sinhala back lash that resulted in a racial riot that was the result of killing the 13 Sinhala soldiers by the terrorists..

That was how the terrorism found its beginning in Sri Lanka. Mr.Jayadevan says, that “….If I had decided to remain in the country, I too would have been a gun carrying militant succumbing to the destiny faced by my brothers and sisters in the war that followed.”

Fortunately he had by then run away from Sri Lanka, and did not participate as a terrorist in causing misery to his own people following Prabhakaran’s dream of a Tamil Homeland. Nevertheless, Mr.Jayadevan’s heart seems to be still with the terrorists, therefore we can understand the reason for his letter, and publishing it in the Sri Lanka Guardian Website.

Later, Mr.Jayadevan seem to have suffered from the terrorism of the Tamil terrorists rather than by the Sri Lanka Government Forces, as he recounts his experience. “….Even with my survival in the pastures of England, with my heart and mind deeply embedded with the land I was born, I have gone through many painful and terrifying experiences. “…..deaths of my mother and a sibling in the hands of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in 1987 and my incommunicado detention by the LTTE in Vanni in 2005 … major adversities I experienced as a Tamil.”

Apparently Mr.Jayadevan had suffered more under the IPKF and LTTE, than under the Government of Sri Lanka.

From there he runs off to display his hatred to the present government, perhaps displaying his separatist Sri Lanka Tamil expatriate policy, stating”…... The present regime in office is no better than the regime of the late President J R Jayawardene. It is a cocktail of lethal vermin and is a much bigger specialist in pulverising any accommodative processes….”

Mr. Jayadevan’s letter is a poor attempt to discredit the government of Sri Lanka, the President and the Sinhala community. In Sri Lanka unfortunately the Tamils cannot speak a word without referring to themselves , lamenting over their own misery and suffering at the hands of the Sinhala community. All that attempts to bring them peace, happiness and economic wellbeing by the Government and the President seem to be of no avail, in chasing away the mental phantoms they seem to have made of the Sinhala people.

Madam Rao it would be a waste of time your reading the written lamentations of Mr.Jayadevan. You have come and seen for yourself the situation and it is for you to intelligently understand what had been going on in the North and East before terrorism was eliminated in the provinces and evaluate from what is going on now in those provinces thanks to the Government of the President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, the reality of how the Tamil people in Sri Lanka is taken care of by “their” government and “their” President.

But in conclusion, I should mention that we do not agree with your statements made to the press before you left Sri Lanka after your visit, even if they were made with and eye to please the TamilNadu crowd of politicians, who have really no business to interfere into our affairs. The Tamil people in Sri Lanka are far apart from the Tamils in Tamil Nadu and any attempt to show that they are their people is a false pretext to divide our country and to help India to annex it in its expansionist manoeuvres.

I am sorry to say that Madam, but that is how we the ordinary citizens of Sri Lanka feel about India with different Indian Ministers and officials coming and going away making statements which are uncalled for interference into the affairs of Sri Lanka, treating our President as a high school dropout.

Madam you had said, “While the focus on development and rehabilitation is very welcome, a long term perspective that also includes the issues relating to the political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities should also be kept in mind,”

But, Madam Rao our President who at all odds was able to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka, and bring peace to our people had said loud and clear that there are no minorities and majorities in Sri Lanka, and there are only good Sri Lankans and bad Sri Lankans. He therefore knows without, you or any body having to tell him to bring about a political settlement to the country that benefits equally all communities . It is only necessary for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to think of themselves first as Sri Lankans and as Tamils thereafter.

However, our President need not be told what, and how he should settle the problems affecting our people. We only hope that India keeps away from trying to pamper our Tamil population making them feel different from the rest of the communities in Sri Lanka.

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Thomas Jefferson said , never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

Some question the “indecent” hurry to adopt the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The human mind is so fickle and one does not know when one would change the mind on an issue. Therefore, it is correct that the Constitutional changes are made when the government still has the two third majority. It is now or never. That perhaps explains the haste if there was any.

It also allows the President to go ahead with the appointment of the Commissions that had been postponed due to practical difficulties with the 17 th Amendment.

More importantly there is the 13 Amendment to the Constitution which the President may be able to look into more closely with the two third majority he has in the Parliament.

In 1987 the Indian Government to please the TamilNadu state intervened trespassing our air space to drop food packets to the terrorists under attack by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. It was after that an Indo Sri Lanka agreement was signed forcing JR Jayawardhana to include the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, to allow the Indian Government to send a Peace Keeping Force, and to merge the North and Eastern provinces to facilitate their work.This was an Amendment to the Constitution which was introduced without clearly examining the issues involved, and requires removal replacing it with a more acceptable legislation.

Thereafter the parliament may examine the Constitution further to find out what more amendments should be made to make it suitable for a fast developing country. These are the advantage that the adoption of the 18th Amendment brings in its train.

But Western media as much as their governments would not like to see Sri Lanka as a third world country develop independently, without their “colonial dictates”.

The world has changed and Sri Lanka has to look forward without being bound to its former pseudo benefactors, who instead of helping Sri Lanka to develop threw barriers on the path of its development.

The European Union when it withdrew the GSP+ trade concessions bring in irrelevant demands of adherence to their version of “ human rights” Sri Lanka has had enough.

It showed, leaving no doubt that Sri Lanka cannot depend on the West for its development. Hence it was forced to look for other nations who have in the meantime developed far better than the West both economically and technologically, and are politically wiser and generous towards the developing countries.

This continuing obstruction by the countries of the West for developing countries, and the contempt with which they look at them, ridicule and false media publicity to bring discredit to our country and our politicians are forcing Sri Lanka away from its former attachment to West.

With the latest political changes taking place in Sri Lanka with a President who has more than a two third majority in Parliament, mustering great popularity among his people the BBC and Associated Press have a field day.

BBC sub-headline reads: Sri Lankan MPs have approved proposals to let President Mahinda Rajapaksa seek an unlimited number of terms, in a move critics say could lead to dictatorship.

Charles Havilland of BBC, twisting the news his way, makes the reader understand with a disgusting look in face that the “hawkish” President Mahinda Rajapakse wants to retain the presidency for an unlimited period of time. He has made the President look a dictator with the slight twist in his report.

The fact is that the Parliament adopted an Amendment to its constitution, which allows any living President to contest a presidential election any number of times. With that legislation the Sri Lanka government does not step out of the democratic norms sacrosanct to the West, the Anglican Church and others of their ilk.

But Havilland used the article “the” instead of “a” before the word “president” in his report and for good measure added “ ..and boosts the powers of the head of state ”

His report reads, “The office of the Sri Lankan president has just become significantly more powerful. The constitutional amendments passed by MPs with a massive majority remove the limit on how many times the president can stand for election. and boosts the powers of the head of state ” (emphasis is mine)

The office of the Sri Lankan president had always been powerful, except that, with the 18th Amendment he is able to make things function better than he was able to with an unworkable 17th Amendment which had been included into the Constitution before its workability had been carefully examined.

BBC had also spoken to Sarath Fonseka, the former Army Commander who had political ambitions. He had said that the passing of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution is "the last nail into the coffin of democracy" and that “ The president is trying to take the country towards dictatorship and we will fight against it," . Sarath Fonseka does not know the difference between a Dictator and an executive President.

At least the people of Sri Lanka could be happy that he did not become the President.

Sarath Foneka has further said, “We consider today as the day the sovereignty of the Nation was murdered. A country needs a constitution not to strengthen the President or the ministers but to protect rights of the people. The existing constitution has ample provisions for power if someone engages in politics honestly. As such, this amendment is brought to fulfil personal ambitions. “

The day that the Sovereignty of Sri Lanka was murdered was the day that Sarath Fonseka gave the nominations to contest the Presidential elections. Protecting the rights of the people is to strengthen the President and a government dedicated to the service of the people.

Sarath Fonseka has no right to speak of political honesty of the President when he turned a traitor to this country by using the war to enrich the family, and brought discredit to the country which eliminated terrorism with the correct political leadership and the Armed Forces that conducted the warfare obedient to the duties expected of them..

In the meantime Ranil Wickramasingha who has lost political credibility, unable to conduct his own party “democratically”, makes a hue and cry that the adoption of the 18th Amendment is the end of democracy in Sri Lanka.

He says the presentation of the Bill of Amendment to the Constitution was in violation of the Constitution itself. Wickramasinghe speaks as if the people of the country have already forgotten the very high handed method he used when he was only the Prime Minister of the UNF Government, disregarding the President, to go behind the Parliament, to sign the CFA with the terrorist leader Prabhakaran giving the terrorists rights over the territories occupied by them.

He has introduced a new term the “perpetual Presidency”. Any one with any common sense, if not prejudiced against the President, may understand that the 18th Amendment does not create a perpetual Presidency. It only removes the restriction on the number of times a person could contest a Presidential election.

Surprisingly Mr.Weliamuna of the Transparency International had said that a President could be charged in a court of law when he has completed his second term of office, but the adoption of the 18th Amendment gives the President a life long immunity. This is wrong as in fact the President is the loser, as before he had immunity for two terms office, but the removal of the restricted term of office makes any President answerable to the law after the end of each term of office.

In any case for the people who are unbiased , and believe in the President Rajapakse after having observed the development taking place under his leadership, the work he continues to do for the welfare of the country and its people, adoption of the 18th Amendment gives him the courage to continue with the projects of development he has in his mind, before he hands over the reins to some one else elected by the people to continue the work from where he has left.

The best way to keep alive the democracy every one in the opposition fears to loose is to bury the hatchets of discord, and join the President and the Government to work together to make a great country out of Sri Lanka. That would also help to chase away fears of dictatorship.

Monday, 6 September 2010

In ancient times in Sri Lanka when there were wrongs done to the people they appealed to some higher, spiritual power –a God, a deity or even to the village Yakadura and the Kapuvas to invoke the devils or other mighty powers to strike thunder bolts against the perpetrator.

But today it is different, people also have changed . There are now the western educated intellectuals, academics, politicians, journalists, and web masters, who unlike the ordinary people appeal or make a big “fuss”, expecting India and the International Community to intervene.

But what is all this present “fuss” over the Constitution ? It is about removing a restriction in the Sri Lanka’s Constitution which limits the number of times the same person could be elected as the President of Sri Lanka.

According to this limitation a President of Sri Lanka cannot seek re-election after his second term in office. The removal of this restriction allows an incumbent President to seek nominations along with other candidates for Presidential elections after the two consecutive terms in office, and as long as his wants.

However, his election depends on the voters, and he may or may not be elected. So it is not by appealing to any higher spiritual power that the candidate even if he was twice the President of Sri Lanka could win the election, but it is only by successfully appealing to the ordinary voters-the people, that he could get elected.

Therefore, the power is still in the hands of the people, to elect a candidate who proves to the voters-the people, that he is the best candidate among all the rest of the candidates, including the incumbent President who is seeking election. The incumbent President may be called a dictator only if he usurps the rights of the voters, and denies any other candidate to seek Presidential elections, thus making himself the only choice for the people at the Presidential election.

Now where does the democracy comes in this “mêlée” ? Democracy a system practiced by the ancient Greeks was introduced to us by the west, to keep the developing countries bound to “underdevelopment”.

Why should we adhere to democracy with such fervour ?

We could modify it to a system which follows a political middle path towards progress and development. It is our thinking fortified by our western education and knowledge acquired through reading western authors and writers that has made us believe that democracy is the only political system appropriate to Sri Lanka, and that we should protect it at any cost.

Even people of China- an economic giant of to-day, and the people of Russia which is also a recognised world power did not appeal to the West against the usurpation of their democratic rights by the respective governments. May be people were forced to face economic hardship, and disciplined by force to allow the government machinery to function to give the people a better future, an economic fulfilment.

But that is how all countries advanced economically , and politically to be finally recognized universally as developed countries . Great Britain went through it , and so did America and all other “civilised Christian democracies” not to mention India which is still scrambling towards that goal.

But nothing in the world has begun its existence with comfort, joy and fanfares. Even the birth of a child is not without danger and uncertainty. The mother goes through untold discomfort and” the birth” is at risk both to the mother and the baby. So it is with a country -a developing country at that, breaking in to development and prosperity. It also has to wade through the periphery of uncertainty, risk, danger and suffering.

But when we take our problem with the Constitutional changes to the intellectual arena to discuss its rights and wrongs, and see whether it is breaking down all norms of democracy, we remove the problem from the ordinary people that matter. In the intellectual arena the President Mahinda Rajapakse who had done marvels not only in the elimination of terrorists, but also in all fields of development, is immediately treated as a despot, a dictator.

When the problem is taken away from the ordinary people and transferred to the “ intellectual arena”, it will take a different dimension. Unless the problem is discussed pragmatically turning towards commonsense- the tool used by the ordinary people in the assessment of their leaders, the intellectuals may fail to make the ordinary people understand their point of view as the language they use is not the language of the ordinary people. They will only confuse the ordinary people.

Even the Great Buddha when he spoke to the people he did not confuse them with theories and profound Dhamma. He did not speak to them of paramattasacca ( ultimate truth), but spoke to them in terms of voharasacca(conventional truth).

The Ground view website has roped in the intellectuals, the TamilNet the terrorist sympathisers, the Sri Lanka Guardian anti-Sinhala racists and so on and so forth. But where is the “untainted “ voice of the ordinary people ? Untainted to mean the minds uninfluenced, by the intellectuals, the academics and the politicians.

The ordinary people accept a leader for what he is, a man who they think is a “good” man, a man who they can approach, a man who listens to them, a man who is not different from them, a man who is disciplined, a family man who loves his wife and children, a man who has not forgotten those who are close to him relatives and friend, a religious man, in other words a man who they can trust. The ordinary people do not care for what Lord Acton, Machiavelli, Pontius Pilate, Baron de Montesquieu or for that matter even Peter Bouckaert, has to say.

Then the critics speak of perpetuating a dynasty. That is a historical fact existing even today in the sacrosanct “Western Christian Democratic model” we are trying vehemently to imitate. The critics of the present government seem to be unaware or conveniently avoid speaking on the issue as their main target of attack is the President of Sri Lanka.

For the ordinary people of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse, Chamal Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Basil Rajapakse and Namal Rajapakse represent persons they like, on whom they can place their trust. They do not think of them as the Rajapakse dynasty. That is what the politicians, the journalists and the so called intellectuals try to inculcate in the minds of the ordinary people reluctant to accept such nonsense.

When the intellectuals, academics, politicians, professionals and the business men sent their children to London, Canada, Australia, or America or to International Schools, the ordinary people sent their children to the Government Armed forces perhaps to death in liberating the Tamil people who were not their close relatives, or fight in Mulativu, or Kilinochchi places they have not even seen or previously heard of .

No one then said it was dictatorial. Because every one profited from that “war” in which the “other children” died to give them freedom of movement to rid themselves of fear and uncertainty of life.

But one would say that those children of the ordinary people were not forced to join the Armed Forces, and therefore there was no Dictatorship to talk about. Then why the allowing of an incumbent President to contest a Presidential election like any other individual any number of time be undemocratic and dictatorial ?

In any relation ship there should be the element of trust. If we accept the fact that the President Mahinda Rajapakse who had lot of power concentrated on him as the Executive President , had not used that power against the people or the country, we should then have the decency to place our trust on him to continue with that power, which he may need once again to use in the defence of his people and his country, and not against the people..

The 17th Amendment to the constitution is not workable. But if it becomes evident only after its implementation, then an amendment to it would have been impossible if the government did not have the required two third majority. Therefore, now that the government has the two third majority why not make it the opportunity to replace the unworkable 17 th Amendment with a more workable legislation.

The West is against any third world country rising above its underdevelopment. We have trusted the white colonialists to such an extent, we have become blind to their scheming projects to keep small nations under their control integrating them in to a global network., through globalization, demanding conformity to norms of human rights etc.

Our development depends on not adhering to democratic norms setup by the West, but by placing trust on our leaders recognising their sincerity, and patriotism, adhering to norms set up by them for the development and progress of the country.

This is not the time to call for anti government demonstrations .We have come to a decisive cross road in the history of our country, we should seize this opportunity to place our trust in the President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse to allow him to proceed further in the process of development he had initiated.

This is not the moment to hesitate. If the members of all political parties in the Parliament support the President Mahinda Rajapakse, placing their complete trust on him and adopt the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, future generations will be thankful to the decision you have taken today the 8th September, 2010.